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El Paso Congressman Beto O'Rourke is running for the Senate seat currently held by Ted Cruz.

Democrat Beto O’Rourke closed out March 2017 by declaring his longshot 2018 bid to deny Republican Ted Cruz re-election to the U.S. Senate – also repeatedly reviving a flawed claim about his hometown’s relative safety.

Confirming his candidacy before constituents, the congressman called El Paso “the safest city in Texas, the safest city in the United States.” The same day in Dallas, O’Rourke told a crowd: “El Paso, Texas – safest city, safest city in the state of Texas, safest city in the United States. And listen, lest you think that it’s due to walls or drones or aerostat blimps or militarization of the border–we’ve been either the safest or one of the top three safest cities in America since 1997. We are a safe city.” O’Rourke made a similar claim in Austin the next day.